Ford "accepts the committee's request to provide her first-hand knowledge of Brett Kavanaugh's sexual misconduct next week", said a message from her lawyers to the Senate Judiciary Committee, US media reported.

"I have no doubt that, if the attack on Dr. Ford was as bad as she says, charges would have been immediately filed with local Law Enforcement Authorities by either her or her loving parents".

On Friday (local time), Mr Trump also abandoned any restraint over Dr Ford as he demanded that the Republican-controlled Senate get on with confirming Kavanaugh - and so tilt the highest U.S. judicial body further to the right before November's crucial midterm elections.

'I ask that she bring those filings forward so that we can learn date, time, and place!'

This summer, when it looked like Kavanaugh was on the short-list for the SCOTUS nomination, Ford reached out to her congresswoman, who sent a letter to California Congresswoman Dianne Feinstein that describe her experience.

Milano is 45, by the way - and her comments have now led to a "Twitter moment". The Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) reports that shame, a fear of retribution, a fear of not being believed by police as well as the feeling that the assault was not significant enough to report are among the most common reasons for a victim's silence. "But one thing has remained consistent: Brett Kavanaugh remains ready, willing and eager to testify as soon as possible", it added.

He first tweeted, "Judge Brett Kavanaugh is a fine man, with an impeccable reputation, who is under assault by radical left wing politicians who don't want to know the answers, they just want to destroy and delay".

According to Trump, the fact that Ford remained silent until now shows the incident probably never happened - even if this runs counter to what experts say is the typical reaction of sexual assault victims afraid or too embarrassed to report. Lakshmi said her first encounter happened when she was age seven, and her parents sent her away when she talked to them about it.

Speaking to The Washington Post, Ford alleges that in the 1980s Kavanaugh and Mark Judge, both drunk, "corralled her into a bedroom".

This time, it was solidarity through attempted education, as sexual assault survivors furiously hit back at Trump and Ford's other detractors with the reasons why they, like Ford, kept their trauma to themselves for so long.